We had a pretty good week over here. On Tuesday we were able to meet with the Fales, our Jewish investigator family. Jill (the wife) is an amazingly nice woman who is always excited to ask us questions and learn more. We Jill about different apostles in the New Testament and then we learned about Bar Mitzvahs from her. It was a cool exchange of information.
On Wednesday I was able to interview Gary, a man who got baptized on Saturday in the Cristianitos ward It was a good chance to get to know him and to help him out as he prepared for baptism. We helped him do some service before the interview and he gave us a bunch of souvenirs from Hawaii and Alohas (Hawaiian shirts). And then on Thursday I was able to interview Grace, a 17 year old girl also being baptized in that ward. Grace was the friend of one of the girls in that ward and started going to church after watching a little bit of General Conference with the family of her friend, so its super simple to invite friends to learn more, and who knows they might love it like Grace did. They both are some amazingly prepared people who were very excited for their baptisms so it was wonderful to be able to see those happen on Saturday. I learned a lot in preparing for the interviews as well as when I met with them.
I had a cool experience this morning that can relate to the ordinance of baptism and the Atonement. Sometimes in the mornings out here we get together as the elders in the zone and play frisbee or feetball (a combination of football and soccer.) It rained for a good portion of the day yesterday and all through the night so we planned to play some feetball this morning knowing that the field we go to would be super wet and muddy (obviously the best time to play soccer.) It was a ton of fun slipping and sliding around in the mud and getting rained on while we played. Of course the one downside to this activity is the fact that you get pretty muddy and nasty. After showering and changing into clean clothes warm and clean and good again. When I got out of the shower, my companion and our roommates and I were joking about how I felt like a new man and then we realized that that's exactly how the Atonement coupled with baptism and the Sacrament works. You go through life having a good old time but you end up making wrong choices that cause you to be soaking wet, cold, and covered in mud (which is pretty uncomfortable after a while) but then the Atonement acts as a shower, warming you up, cleaning you off, and helping you feel refreshed and new again. Its so amazing that we have the amazing gift of the Atonement to help us overcome the mistakes we make and to help us be able to feel the warmth of our Heavenly Father's love.
On Friday we had zone 24's. The whole zone goes on exchanges for the day and there is a chance to go with any of the elders in the zone instead of just exchanges within the district. I was able to go to the Capistrano area with Elder Medina, one of our zone leaders. Elder Gunn stayed in our area with Elder Ferguson, our other zone leader. We laughed about it because it probably seemed like we are the troubled companionship but really we went with them because the zone leaders are supposed to do exchanges with all the district leaders and they just hadn't done it with me yet. It was fun to go out and to do some Filipino work with him, it felt like I was back doing Japanese work with Summers, just having to smile and nod because I had no idea what was going on. It ended up being a super good day and I learned a lot about how to be a good leader and had a lot of fun along the way.
Yesterday we had church, of course, and then after church we helped make bags with thanksgiving food that will be delivered to Marine families at some of the bases nearby. It was cool to be a part of it and to help people who help us so much, that and after church we got to change into comfy regular clothes and relax for a little bit before we had to go to the service, it felt like a "normal" Sunday at home.
I love it here in Talega. The people are so nice and the members truly appreciate what we do and want to help us as much as they can. We have some good stuff happening and Elder Gunn and I are confident that we will begin seeing miracles pretty soon as we stay diligent and focused on our purpose. I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ leads it through our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I love being a called and chosen representative of Christ and I love helping our Heavenly Father's children.
Love
Elder Cheever
